St. Augustine 'bar' has taken many ships

Many ships have sunk in the waters off St. Augustine in the past 450 years. One of the earliest documented was the Nuestra Senora de las Olas, which was lost on the “bar” just outside the inlet while leaving St. Augustine in 1595.

“A bar is a uniquely shallow point on the ebb delta over which a channel passes, and all inlets have one,” said Brendan Burke, an archaeologist with St. Augustine’s Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program (LAMP). “At this point, wave intensity is magnified by the shoaling and frequently causes not only dangerous waves, but very shallow water.”

St. Augustine has been no exception, Burke said, and there have been “many manifestations of different inlets here caused by nature and man.”

“Sailing ships over St. Augustine’s historic inlets were known to ‘scud’ over the bar, sometimes touching their keels on the hard packed sand,” Burke said. “Nuestra Senora de las Olas sailed into St. Augustine sometime during 1593 for repairs, and though she made it into port, she was lost on the bar when attempting to leave.”